Jenni Nabors, co-creator of Amazon Prime Video’s new thriller series “Swarm,” tells TheWrap how her fear and fascination with stan culture and fandom helped mold the idea for her and Donald Glover’s new buzzy Beehive-inspired series Did.
Nabors says she has fans, and then there are people like Dre (Dominic Fishback), the main character in her new show, which focuses on an alienated, calculating and cynical superfan of Beyoncé-esque R&B singer Ne’Jah. Despite never meeting her, Dre feels that Ne’Jah can do no wrong, because in his eyes she is the epitome of perfection, and if you express otherwise it could be your last breath.
While murder is not the option most fans would make to defend their favorite celebs, the show does highlight the dark, obsessive, and sometimes shocking behavior stans and fan culture go through. Nabors says she is a bit “fleeted” from fandom at this point in her life, but its culture appeals to her.
“It scares me a little bit,” Nabors says. I’ve seen people publicly trying to take ownership of The Donald.
Nabors continues: “You just wonder, like, what makes someone who’s never met anybody, who’s never met that special someone in their life, then become so obsessed with them that They’ll do anything to meet him. To me it’s a really interesting character study in psychology and behavior. I think Stan culture is always evolving. It’s awesome. It’s funny, all that stuff.
The idea for “Swarm” was a pitch from Glover, who enlisted Nabors — a Houstonian and longtime “Atlanta” writer — to lead the series as showrunner and executive producer. While Glover did not write any of the seven-part series, he provided his creative input and directed the first episode.
“It was originally a pitch from Donald, and we worked on it together,” said Nabors, who led an all-black writers team that included four black women and four black men. “She pitched me the idea of a black woman obsessed with a pop star, and we built on that. I think he has his own weirdo fans who are obsessed with it, and I think it was something he wanted to explore, but he really wanted someone else to write it, and he wanted to direct the pilot. . The process was to step more into the role of a director and co-producer and allow a black woman to write a series about a black woman.
In episode six, the writers introduce Loretta Green, a detective who is using clues such as social media posts, news articles and murder scenes to look into several murders, eventually coming to the conclusion that the suspect is Dre. is revealed as Andrea Greene, whose real name is Andrea Greene. The True-Crime-Inspired Episode Isn’t Real At All, But It Came Out Of It real internet rumors,
It’s scary to think about Nabors while violent fan-obsessed people like Dre exist.
“Look at John Lennon, look at Versace, look at Selena,” Nabors says. There are certainly people in America who have been a part of our culture. A lot of people may not talk about them anymore, but they do exist.”
She continued: “There are people who understand the boundaries or the internet and the autonomy and limits of another person’s life. Then there are people like Dre who don’t.
As the iconic “Spider-Man” saying goes: “With great power comes great responsibility.” And being a high-profile person often means you can engage with the actions of the people who follow you. But Nabers says it’s not solely the duty of one person.
“I would say yes and no a little bit,” Nabors says. “I think the responsibility is just to understand what people are capable of. If you can understand what people are capable of, you can understand that you may have some fans who cross the line Or can’t.And do you want the legacy that you have, or do you want it to be something that you can give a message of peace and unity to the world.
‘Swarm’ premiered on March 17 and is now streaming on Prime Video. The series stars Fishback, Chloe Bailey, Damson Idris, Paris Jackson, Leon, Nirin S. Brown, Karen Rodriguez, Rory Culkin, Kiersey Clemons, Cree Summer, X Mayo and Billie Eilish.
